Infinite Sliders
by ChaoticRambler
Summary: There are a myriad of worlds in the DC Multiverse, some better than others. What happens when a team of heroes are brought together through the boundaries of space and time, to right the wrongs in worlds that have no other hope? Based on Marvel's eXiles. -ON HIATUS-
1. The Death of Superman

It didn't particularly matter if the Justice Lords had their powers or not, because they didn't need them to maintain their stranglehold over Earth. Armies of Superman Robots and a loyal police system kept them in charge of the world's population and, if push came to shove, they always had the Watchtower.

The Lords' space station was essentially a giant gun, outfitted with a wide array of weaponry designed to fire through the atmosphere onto the planet below. There wasn't a single villain, riot or uprising on Earth they couldn't defeat through a simple application of point and shoot.

But they didn't have anything to protect them from the inside out.

* * *

><p>The air on the station was was filled with sulfurous fumes as consoles burned and shards of metal flew through the air. Troops of rebels marched through the corridors, destroying obstacles with a methodical precision. The Justice Lords were on the retreat.<p>

Tears streamed from Clark's eyes as he jumped over heaps of broken robot. He could hear the screams as his teammates fell behind him. He didn't know who was alive, and who was just injured. He couldn't afford to check. He prayed that they'd make it.

He ran into the hanger, slamming his fingers into the control panel and locking it behind him. His only hope was to escape in the Javelin, and try to regroup with his comrades later. The boarding ramp lowered from the immense ship, and he was aboard in seconds.

The instant the door closed, however, he was pushed to his knees and forced into handcuffs. He was surrounded by rebel troops and the ship was filled with his curses.

Lois was at their head, a grim expression covering her perfect face like a Halloween mask. Dozens of questions cluttered his mind. How could you? Why would you? Where did you come from? Don't you love me? Instead he asked: "How did you teleport into the Watchtower? How did you connect to our systems?"

Lois shook her head, and one of her rebels stepped forward, a red haired kid with freckles on his cheeks—he reminded Clark of Jimmy Olsen. "How do you think?" The kid spoke as his form wavered, quickly replaced with the emerald skin of the Martian Manhunter "I let them in."

Superman growled, lunging forward. "J'onn, how could you?"

The martian smiled coldly, as the rebel soldiers brought their guns down on their former savior, and his words echoed in Clark's ears in his final moments on this Earth, as the universe faded to black around him. "I did it for your own good."

* * *

><p>The Justice Lord once known as Clark Kent spent countless millenia floating in darkness. Fragments of his mind floated through the abyss, tiny particles spreading across eternity. He watched worlds come into being, and he watched them shatter apart, but he couldn't make any sense of any of it.<p>

His particles had no coherence, they wanted to disperse—to disappear. That couldn't be accomplished if he stayed whole. Suddenly, or maybe slowly—he couldn't tell, his mind was filled with an immense golden light.

He was warm, and happy and his mind came together through the dark void.

He had a thought, his first thought since the dawn of creation, and filled his entire self with a sense of the ends justifying his means. He knew that he truly was a hero—because believed he was bound for heaven.

But Clark's heaven wasn't a dark cell in a moist dungeon. It wasn't chains around his wrists and a thick collar around his neck. His heaven wasn't crawling with rats, or filled with the stench of powerful magic. So why is it, that that's where he found himself when he woke up?


	2. Superman Bound

Superman screamed, and pulled at his bonds. The chains rattled, but didn't strain, and his screams echoed pointlessly throughout the empty dungeon. His strength was back. He could feel it pulsing through his dense muscles, but it didn't do a thing. He roared at the iron bars.

Footsteps came slowly down the hallway, and the sound of conversation rose above his angry screams. His cell door swung open, and a man entered. The Justice Lord spat out his captor's name. "Doctor Fate."

The Doctor's voice echoed from inside his golden helmet, and he nodded slowly. "Hello Superman."

"You're dead. Shayera killed you."

"I'm sure that she could, given her choice of weaponry—but I'm not your Fate." Clark growled, and struggled against his chain. He could feel the magic in his restraints, and he struggled against it. "I must admit, when I touched the presence of such an dark soul, I didn't expect it to be you."

Superman lunged forward "Dark? You pulled me away from Heaven!"

Fate laughed. "I don't know if you would have gone to Heaven or not. But that is not where you were, I can't pull souls that have already been judged. I barely missed my chance to resurrect you."

"You stole my reward from me."

A second man came into the room, a thickly muscled man with a gray, shaggy beard. His eyes glowed red with rage as he stepped into the room, his soft boots treading silently across the stone floor. "You're lucky he saved you at all. You would've gone to Hell for what you've done."

The man spat on Clark's uniform, and the light died from the his eyes. He looked at Doctor Fate "Are you sure you need him? We can do this without him."

Fate shook his head. "He has an insight that we require, giving what he was. Besides, if I truly did save him from damnation, perhaps the experience will be good for him."

The man grunted, and crossed a pair of hairy arms. "I don't like this. We can't trust him."

"Nevertheless, he is on your team."

Clark had had enough of this, and he growled through bared teeth. "What's going on?"

Doctor Fate turned toward his prisoner, and held out his gloved hand. "Superman, I'd like to introduce you to Superman. You two are going to save the world." The sorcerer flicked his fingers, and Clark's chains fell to the floor.


	3. Tea Time

Clark frowned as his chains clattered against the stone tiles. He bared his teeth for a second, while slowly massaging his wrists. They were red, irritated from the manacles that Fate had removed. The magic in the metal worked past his powers, and allowed the bands to rub and chafe him like anyone else. He was still wearing the collar, and it itched.

The Justice Lord closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. Finally calm, he opened them, and commanded. "Explain."

"We will. In due time. Please, Superman, come join us upstairs. Inza has made us tea."

"I don't trust you, Fate. You need to explain, right now, why you've brought me here"

Fate sighed, and set the brow of his helmet into his gloved hand. "Super—Kal-El, you are not the only person who requires an explanation. Please come upstairs, and everything will be made perfectly clear."

With that, Fate turned and stepped out of the dungeon. The bearded Superman followed closely behind.

Clark stood in his cell for a moment, clenching and unclenching his fists. He had the power to snap Fate like a twig, and he would if it he thought he could force the sorcerer to send him home. But Fate's words bounced around in the back of his head.

There was a world somewhere that needed him. He wasn't going to let innocent people suffer for his sake. He rose into the air and floated himself after magical master.

* * *

><p>Doctor Fate's sitting room was more crowded than Clark expected. A group of heroes filled the various mismatched armchairs, drinking tea and talking quietly over plates of cookies. The usual clutter; books, knicknacks and other mystical odds and ends; was shoved toward the walls. The heroes all turned to look at Clark as Fate led him into the room.<p>

Clark sat down next to his rough-skinned other self; and looked intently around the room. He saw Shayera, Zatanna and a golden armored knight the could remember killing a few years ago in New York.

He didn't recognize the others—A blue demon and an unimpressive looking knight with a red tabard. There was a cup of tea next to his chair, he ignored it and tapped his feet.

Doctor Fate stood in front of all of them, and took off his helmet. His voice changed, losing the tinge of magic that crept into all of his words. "I don't know all of the details, but Nabu ordered me to bring you here. There's a disturbance in the Multiverse, the collection of alternate realities that make up existence. Someone, or something is upsetting the order of these worlds.

"I can't rely on my world's heroes, as I normally do, without upsetting the course of this world. So I chose to bring in other heroes, people who were already dead and incapable of further influencing their world's histories."

Everyone seemed to take this information with a surprising level of acceptance. Shayera's hand was beginning to relax around her mace, though her teeth still clenched tightly, and the demon had a smile that stretched from one horn to the other.

Zatanna rubbed her chin and spoke; as Hawkgirl stood and lept across the room.

Clark looked at Doctor Fate, and his eyelids drooped over the blur of gold that was his face.

By the time the good doctor was finished speaking; Clark had already fallen asleep.


End file.
